On May 6, 2019 the Palestine House, a Palestinian Canadian Community Centre based in Mississauga, Ontario, issued the following statement on the recent round of violence between Israel and Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other armed Palestinian groups:

Statement on the Israeli assault against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip

Palestine House (Palestinian Canadian Community Centre) strongly condemns the Israeli military’s vicious and brutal attack against the besieged people of Gaza.

This heinous act of violence using US-made fighter jets and artillery has so far resulted in the deaths of 25 Palestinians, including two pregnant women, two infants, a four-month-old baby and her father and a 12-year-old boy and his parents.

These attacks, which kill hopes for peace in the region, represent an ongoing Israeli policy of collective punishment by the Israeli state against some two million Palestinians, 80 per cent of whom are refugees who were expelled from their homes by Israel in 1948 and forced into camps in the Gaza Strip.

We do not accept the misguided argument that rocket attacks by Palestinian fighters are to blame for the escalation when, in fact, Gaza has been subjected to an illegal Israeli blockade since 2007, to an illegal Israeli military occupation since 1967 and to the denial of Palestinian refugees’ UN-recognized right of return to the properties which were confiscated from them in 1949 by the racist Absentee Property Law.

That’s why Palestinians in Gaza continue to steadfastly march to the militarized border fence with Israel every Friday in what’s been dubbed “The Great March of Return”, and why Canadians must support Palestinians’ determination to return to their lands.

We call upon the Trudeau Government, which claims to champion peacemaking and human rights around the world, to demand that the Israeli government cease its brutal aggression against Palestinians in Gaza and fulfill its obligations under international law. Namely, to end its illegal blockade, end its illegal occupation and allow Palestinian refugees to exercise their right of return, as stipulated in UN General Assembly resolution 194.

We call upon all major Canadian political parties to issue their own condemnations of Israel’s aggression and ongoing violations and demand it respects international law.

Finally, we call on all those who support peace and human rights around the world to stand with our people’s struggle for freedom, justice and equality.